Cristallo

I searched to see if this had been posted yet and didn't see a thread...

Looks like the Elation lost propulsion overnight.

http://www.news4jax.com/travel/cruise-ship-loses-power-heading-to-jaxport

Yeah I'm none to happy with CCL right now. As locals we loved being able to hop on the Fascination for a quick vacation. We have a cruise coming up in May with her and were kicking around going on her again next year as well. With the announcement of the Elation getting switched out we might just forgo cruising in general in exchange for more land based vacations.

We liked the ease of not having to drive or fly to another port and since we prefer a balcony which the Elation doesn't have outside of suites we might be saying bye bye to cruising for a while.

Additional note: I just got off the phone with my PVP who said that the Elation may be going in for dry dock soon to finish the upgrades so if that is correct Jacksonville might not be getting such a downgrade.

That's a no brainer, pay $18 more for the $108 in OBC.

 

Ohhh but the extra day... hmmm that is a quandry.

Well the 5 day is to Key West and Cozumel vs. the 4 day to their private island. Seeing as we can just drive down to Key West it's kinda a wash.

Edit: I just went and double checked and it's a 4 day with Carnival as well. So pay $18 more and get $108 OBC for the same length of cruise on Princess.

Kinda disappointing. I'm kicking around taking a cruise next month and right now I can get an inside cabin on Caribbean Princess (4 day) for $570 plus $200 obc. The gratuities can come out the $200 so out the door it's $570 plus $108 obc.

Comparing that to the 12 sale with Carnival, I can pay $432.82 for an inside cabin (5 day) plus the $120 for gratuities making the total out the door $552.84.

I wonder which one I'll book.....

Fascination twice because we live about 30 minutes away from the port. No flying and we get dropped off so no parking to pay.

We have a travel monkey. We won it at a game in Universal so since we were carrying it already I took some photo's of it.....made it into a video for family who thought it was hilarious.

On the next trip Monkey traveled with us again.

We almost missed ours. We were out on our balcony and didn't hear the first announcement. As we went to leave the room a lady yelled as us to get to our station. When we arrived we sat around not talking and then were dragged up to the deck where they talked but we couldn't hear. Then they let us go.

Thanks for making this. I was trying to explain to my DH why I don't want to pay extra for a suite on CCL. We're looking at 2 separate cruises for next year and I want to try X since I think the perks are worth the extra cost of the suites and he wanted to pay more for a suite on CCL.

I just wanted to say that I went into my local Ross the other day and they had a lot of cute plus sized dresses up to size 26 I think. I made a comment to the sales lady and she said they were starting to get their party dresses in stock now. So it might be worth it to check it out.

I use Rimmel foundation too. I'm multi ethnic and it's been the only kind that actually matches my skin tone. Other then that I only use mark. products. I might be biases since I sell it but I love it and can't go back to using anything else.

Cristallo....especially at a bargain like that :D. You really do have to jump on things you like, especially sizes, too!

I know I was in the store to look at curtains and I said to my husband do you mind if I look at the dresses for a sec and then I saw it and first thought someone must have put this in the wrong section and then I looked at the tag. My husband saw my face and was like go try it on and when I showed it to him he said okay lets get it. He knows how hard it is to find a cute formal dress in my size.

This is my dress. I got it at Ross for $20

I really think this is a brontosaurus!

I was thinking Komodo dragon.

My parents used to live in Europe while my father was in the Navy and they traveled extensively but because of a military sticker (not sure what type) they usually were just waved through. It's my mother's one regret from her travels. She's been all over Europe without a single stamp to show for it.

If you've got a passport stamp it. You'll be able to look back on your travels and show the kids. :)

I like Inspired Silver. They have nice rings.

Thanks for the photo's. I'm booked on the Nov 27th sailing too.

Another thing to try for packing personal items are free sample items. Websites like Walmart, Costo or the companies themselves give away free samples of different products from time to time. You can send for them and use them on the cruise. Since they are samples they tend to be small. You can send for them and put them aside for the cruise.

Best of all, they are FREE.

I wanted to add that there are a couple of companies that make collapsible water bottles now. We've used them in the past for hiking. They lay flat when not in use and some can be rolled up. So if you're interested in bringing your own bottle to refill but don't want to waste space they might work well for you.

Just google collapsible water bottle.

I never thought about decorating the door but did wonder how in the world to easily find our door if we went on a cruise.

Went to Vistaprint and made a mock up of one. Used the same template as the one's we had on our car doors on our honeymoon.

Thanks for the idea.